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Mosser Lee

Actually, the Mosser Lee used to be the only kind available, and in days gone by, the 3 ft bale used to berelatively clean and compressed, nearly as nice as the New Zealand is now. (Nearly but not quite!)

Like most things, the quality has diminished over the years, as well as the compressed packing.

On a similar note, I used to get Sunshine peat that was normally so tightly packed, a bale contained at least twice what it does now. Also, the amount of sticks and debris was near none. One paid more for it, but it was worth it. I assume most people couldn't tell the difference between a quality product and the cheaper stuff. I guess Sunshine had to find a way to compete.
It is sad what has happened to products, but we can only rape the earth for so long before we see the difference. Also, as usual, the profit margin has increased I assume.

Give it time. If you are still in the hobby in enough years, you will see the New Zealand Sphagnum diminish in quality and rise in cost too.

Paul

Experience is the best teacher. At least it used to be.
But then, common sense isn't so common anymore, is it.

I've had pretty bad luck sprouting sphagnum from the dried moss. I have used both Mosser Lee and the Chilean Orchid Moss.

All that ever happens on my pots is that the top layer begins to turn black:

Then, towards the end of the growing season, some unknown Bryophyte sprouts. It looks nice, so I leave it. The ambient humidity and overall sunlight is probably unideal. However, I think getting live sphagnum wouldn't be so bad.....

I also tried sprouting it in an enclosed container, but without any luck either. All I got was mold/fungus.

2 more cents

You are looking at too high a temperature, and possibly too low of humidity.
The downright cold temps it wants seems to be its highest priority tho.
Mine grows best in my highland terrarium, and second best outdoors in a cool spot.
It seems to handle a lot of direct sun, so long as it is kept cool and humid.
The worst place is in my lowland setup, as it is humid but just too warm for it.

Starting sphagnum growing from dried packaged moss is slow and often difficult.
The next time you do a trade with someone, see if you can get them to throw some in.
It will readily grow from small cuttings like a weed, if conditions are right.

As far as different brands of sphagnum, I posted about the differences in moss qualities
some time ago: http://www.terraforums.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=115013
however I did not cover which moss would grow best from packaged state.
I have had both types grow from the dry state, however starting from even a small clump
worked out best when I wanted to grow it.
Above all, like all the plants we grow, if we don't provide the ideal environment that it wants,
it doesn't matter what else we do, it won't "thrive".
Like most things, you won't know until you try.

Paul

Experience is the best teacher. At least it used to be.
But then, common sense isn't so common anymore, is it.

Veronis,
If you wanna grow your own sphagnum faster and in more quantity get hold of a small bale of blond LFS labeled "Orchid Moss" from Lowes ($5) and one of those Jiffy Seedling Greenhouse trays with the clear lids ($3).

Take handfuls of dry LFS and grind them together to make a shredded dust, it seems to cause moss germination faster. My belief is that this releases spores as well as generates more surface area for them to germinate on. Grind up enough handfuls to fill the Jiffy tray to 1" deep or so. Wear a mask or tie a shirt over your face like a old-time bandit when you do this cos you don't wanna breathe the LFS dust it's very bad and can cause a fungal infection in your lungs.

Soak the ground up moss well with R/O water and then squeeze most of the water out of it and put it in the tray making a roughly even layer of moist ground up moss. Mist it heavily don't water log it just get the surface glistening as if it was lightly rained on and put the lid on it. Let the tray get indirect sun light, terrarium light or at least cool eastern morning light and shade the rest of the day and in about 90 days you should begin to have your own field of green which you can harvest from and replace with another bit of ground moss to keep the culture growing. Mist it every few days or whenever it looks to be getting dry. The brighter the light it gets the faster it dries out. Western/afternoon sun seems to burn germinating LFS even if it's under a humidity dome. I never have good luck growing it on my patio.

I went and got some of that whiter orchid moss at Lowe's (and it has its own fair share of long roots and twigs and leaves), and I tried taking handfuls and rubbing them together, but since I was trying to catch it all in a glass pie plate, I found it easier to take a half handful or so, put it between my palms, and rub together vigorously. It got nice and dusty. I put it in two 1" or so tall tupperware containers, and since the lids are blue, I just used saran wrap for the lids. I might put one container under my grow lights (where moss has been growing from my media with my seedlings, and one in an east-facing window (doesn't get too much sun, though, because of trees and a hill across the street). I hope this works!